Lhasa & Namtso Bike Tour

This is the first day in Tibet. Your guide will greet you at Lhasa Gonggar Airport/Railway Station and transfer you to your hotel. It usually takes around 1 hour to drive from Lhasa Airport to downtown Lhasa and takes about 20 minutes from Lhasa Railway Station. Tourists could have a look at the Yarlung Tsangpo River, the largest and longest river in Tibet on their way to the hotel. After check-in, you can have a good rest first. And if you feel like going out, you can wander around the city. But just remember that don't take too much stuff, try to go with a light pack. Meanwhile, drink some more water, and do not move strenuously. It’s really useful to get acclimatized to the high altitude.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

In the morning, we will visit Norbulingka, which is a typical Tibetan-style royal garden, the summer resort of the Dalai Lama. There are a lot of towering trees, exotic flowers and plants in the garden, as well as many collections of cultural relics, Buddha statues, pagodas, thangkas, murals, etc. They are all very precious treasures.

In the afternoon, you are heading to Drepung Monastery, which means Monastery of Rice Heap in the Tibetan language. The entire monastery is large in scale and the white buildings cluster and cover the hillsides. Drepung monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, also the highest-ranking monastery in the Gelug Sect.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

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In the morning our guide will meet you at the hotel and first take you to visit the famous Potala Palace, the cardinal landmark of Tibet and the masterpiece of Tibetan architecture. It was first built by the 33rd King - Songtsen Gangpo in the 7th century and rebuilt later by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. Now it's a museum and world heritage site. 

In the afternoon, we will go to visit Jokhang Temple in the center of the Lhasa old town. Jokhang Temple is the most sacred temple in Tibet and it is always bustling with earnest local pilgrims since the early days. After that, you will take a walk around the Barkhor Street - one of the most devotional circuits as well as a crowded central market of Lhasa. Barkhor Street is a very ancient round street surrounding the Jokhang Temple and the locals are always proud of it. As a symbol of Lhasa, it‘s also a must-see place for visitors.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

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Riding bike about 155km from Lhasa to Damxung along Tolung-chu and Qinghai-Lhasa Train Line, totally takes abt 8hrs. The road is in decent condition. Enjoy the fabulous view along the view. Damxung means "select pasture" in the Tibetan language. Damxung county has an area of 10,036 square kilometres, with rugged topography. Damxung is long and narrow, measuring 185km from the northeast to southwest extremes, and at most 65km across. The terrain is rugged, including the western Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains, with their highest peak rising to 7,111 metres. As of 2013 the population was 40,000, with most of the people engaged in animal husbandry.

Riding bike about 75km from Damxung to Namtso, takes abt 4hrs, with Nyenchen Thanglha snow mountain ranges in view. Today’ most difficult ride is to climb to Mt. Nagenla Pass (5,190m), but the good thing is our vehicle is standing-by, always ready to take you if the bike ride becomes too difficult for this section. After going through Mt. Nagenla Pass, you can see vast green grassland dotted with nomad tents, sheep and yaks. Soon afterwards the turquoise Namtso Lake will come into view taking your breath away. 

Rise up early to see sunrise at Namtso Lake, and you can also do a light trek to Tashi Dor Island at the lake shore, exploring its meditation caves. Then ride bike to Yampachen, at a distance of 123km, taking about 7hrs. Yampachen is a small town lying in Yampachen Valley, a long and narrow graben basin which covers an area of about 450 square kilometers. It is about 90 kilometers long and less than 10 kilometers wide. The mountains standing around Yampachen Valley are 5500-6000 meters above sea level. There are modern glaciers on the top of these mountains and relics of the ancient glaciers in the valley. Located at approximately 4500 meters above sea level, Yampachen is famous for its geothermal resources that produce much of the electricity for the capital Lhasa. It is also famous as a hot spring resort. Yampachen lies just south of Nyainqêntanglha Mountains, in an upland lush green valley surrounded by the tents of nomads with grazing yak and sheep populating the hillside.

Treat yourself a lovely bath/swim at Yampachen Hot Springs with snow-capped mountains surrounding you in the background, consider it a reward after biking at the top of the world for 3 days so far. After this refreshment, ride back to Lhasa, at a distance of 75km, taking about 4hrs.

Your tour ends today. Our guide and driver will collect you from your hotel to transfer to Lhasa Airport/Railway Station for your next destination.